Restore the Factory User Bank in Your Alesis QS6.2 Synthesizer

I recently fired up my old Alesis QS6.2 synth after a long hiatus, only to discover the user bank was hosed. Not only did I want those sounds to play with, but they have special significance to me, since I worked on them while I was an engineer at Alesis!

Opening up the unit, I found out sure enough that the battery was dead. It was pretty easy to find a source online, so I ordered a replacement.

Replacing the Battery

Doing battery swap requires de-soldering the existing battery from the PC board, which is not trivial. Ideally, you’d have a good soldering gun and a “solder-sucker” or a good solder wick. I had neither but I got it off, albeit sloppily.

Then, I had to solder the new battery on. Again, if you have a solder-sucker or wick, you can clear the holes of solder and simply drop the battery in. If you don’t, it’s more difficult.

If you’ve never done anything like this before, I recommend taking your unit in to an authorized repair center get the battery professionally replaced.

Finding the QS User Bank

I figured it would then be easy to find the QS6.2 User Bank sysex file online. But to my surprise, the Alesis website didn’t have it. Apparently, it underwent a major overhaul and this old file didn’t make it through the migration. UPDATE #1: I found a page for legacy Alesis products here! You can find the downloads for almost all old Alesis products there. UPDATE #2: the Alesis download links seem to be broken after you try to enter your email address. Sorry! Try emailing Alesis customer support to complain.

Searching through my old computer files, I found it on my computer from when I worked on it!

Here it Is!!

To load this into your QS synth, you’ll need a MIDI interface for your computer and some MIDI software. On Windows, I use Cakewalk or MIDI-OX (free). Enjoy!!

Leave me a comment below if you have a QS synth! – Brian

p.s., this is the NAMM show display where we introduced the QS6.2 synth back in 2002. I was the engineer in charge of the update from the QS6.1 to QS6.2. I upgraded the D/A converters, improved the analog PCB layout to eliminate hum in the outputs, improved the button layout ergonomics, and updated the colors (from black to silver). Oh, and I re-programmed the user bank!

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77 Comments

Hi Brian great read. I recently acquired a QS 8.1 and already owned a QS 8.2. Kind of wanted aftertouch. Is it possible to dump the user bank from the qs 8.2 on pcmcia to the qs8.1. I don’t have enough real estate for both. Thanks

Hi Brian! Excellent and very helpful information here. I, too, am now suffering with an Alesis QS8 that went from perfect working condition to green screen with no sound. I had to open it up to fix 2 keys that were sticking. In the process of fixing those keys, I must have done something to it because it is now dead – just a blank (but backlit) LCD and no sounds from headphones or line out. From reading below, someone else had a similar issue and you advised that a serial cable could be backward something else loose. I have checked all of those things – several times – and nothing is really changing. I had a new eprom and tried that – still no luck. I am getting +5V and the battery is a solid 3V. No luck with factory reset. No other obvious damaged caps, loose fittings, etc.

I believe I may have reversed the LCD screen cable when I reassembled and perhaps I fried it. The only other cables I would have touched when fixing the keys would have been the aftertouch cables. I’ve tried every configuration of those and no luck. I’ve reversed the other serial cables (some aren’t keyed) and nothing seems to sort it out. I would think that if that were the case, the sound output would not be affected.

Any advice on here to look next before this one has to go to the shop? Thanks in advance.

I think I found the right person to solve my problems! I have an old Alesis QS 6.2 keyboard that I definitely don’t want to get rid of. As normally happens after more than 15 years, the backup battery is gone. I done some interesting sounds on the USER banks (both PROGRAM and MIX) programmed by myself; fortunately I had managed to backup the USER section on my Mac. Now I must begin by replacing the battery. In the past I worked as a lab technician and I have experience in doing such jobs, unfortunately now I have serious sight problems and I have to turn to a technician, friend of mine, to do this job. Just yesterday, this technician replaced my Alesis SR-16 drum machine’s backup battery which I imagine was designed at the same time as QS 6.2, and the factory putted on it the BR2325 (Battery Manufacturer: Panasonic / Matsushita Type: BR2325 Rating 3V, 5mA). This battery has soldered legs, safer to avoid unhooking from a battery holder, but difficult to replace when a soldering iron can no longer be used, as in my case. Taking into account that the drum machine is kept in my studio, and I don’t need to transport it, in agreement with the technician, we opted to install a battery holder soldered in the PCB with the legs suitable for the holes existing in the PCB, with inserted a standard battery (Duracell CR3032), easily available everywhere. To do all this, I limited myself to opening the drum machine, taking a photo of the battery and its anchor and showing it to the technician. He proceeded to procure the battery holder, when this was available I took the drum machine to the laboratory and in half an hour he restored the drum machine. Now I ask you if my QS 6.2 has the same backup battery as the SR-16 drum machine and I can get the technician CR2032 holder without having to disassemble the synth cover and take photos like the drum machine (this for the QS 6.2 being a bit more complicated than the drum machine). Like the drum machine also QS 6.2 still remains into my studio and it is not subject to shocking moves. Note that I found photos of the QS 6.1 backup battery on the internet and it is the BR2325, soldered just like in the SR-16. Does the original battery in the QS6.2 is the same of the QS6.1? Who better than you who designed the differences between QS6.1 and QS6.2 can confirm this? Another problem with QS 6.2: the return spring to the central position of the pith bend control does not work. Do you think, for your experience, that may have just dropped or you think it’s broken and I need to replace it? In the latter case, only the spring can be found or all the control must be replaced? Do you know where to buy these spare parts? Thank you so much.

Hey there! Ran into this problem with my QS8.2 yesterday….all of the user bank programs were gone, both in program and mix banks. That hurt, because I play live with lots of custom splits in the mix bank, but now I’m scrambling. Opened it up and found the backup battery was dead, and ordered one….the only person that had it was in Israel, I think…but I could use some help in restoring the factory “program” user bank sounds, as it appears they were used quite heavily in creating my custom mixes. I am not too tech savvy, so any step by step instructions on how to reboot those program sounds would be most helpful. Thank you!

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